text:
Apple last week released a public beta of Boot Camp, which enables owners of Intel-based Macs to install Windows XP on a separate partition. Mac users and the press went crazy about the possibilities, which we cover in detail in this issue: Adam looks at Boot Camp and some of its implications, while Robert Movin returns to discuss virtualization, or running Windows within Mac OS X. Also in this issue, Matt Neuburg raises a sign for Pacifist, and we point you to several fun articles about Apple's 30th anniversary.
Macworld on Apple's 30th Anniversary
Macworld on Apple's 30th Anniversary — Our friends at Macworld have been busy with features celebrating Apple's 30th anniversary, and two of our favorites were their look at Apple's 30 most significant products and a hilarious timeline of important events in Apple's history by John Moltz of Crazy Apple Rumors. If you've started paying attention to Apple only recently, these two articles will give you a grounding in some of Apple's more distant past, and for those of who have been around for many of these years, reading the articles is a nice trip down memory lane. [ACE]
<http://www.macworld.com/2006/04/features/ 30applelist/>
<http://www.macworld.com/2006/04/features/ carstimeline/>
Pacifist Still a Winner at 2.0
If I had to name one utility no Mac OS X power user should be without, it would be Charles Srstka's Pacifist. Well, okay , it might be Alsoft's DiskWarrior. But then Pacifist would certainly come in second! In simple horse-race terms, counting the number of times each program has rescued me in a tight spot, it would be a photo finish.
In simple terms, Pacifist lets you look inside .pkg files. A .pkg file is the sort of thing you double-click to start up the Installer utility; in fact, you might well think of it as being, itself, an installer. The trouble with such installers is that you may not know what they will put where, or you may not be given enough choice about which of its contents you want installed. With Pacifist, you can browse a .pkg file as if it were a folder; you can see its contents, learn a lot about what it proposes to put where, and extract individual files.
To give a practical example, just last week I saw a note on a Usenet newsgroup from someone who had somehow damaged his copy of iMovie. Following advice from other readers, he found iMovie inside a .pkg file on one of his system installer disks, and was easily able to extract it to his hard disk without running the installer.
Pacifist can also read Receipt files (lists of what was installed where, left on your computer by the Installer), and thus can verify that things are properly installed, with correct permissions and so forth. A nice use of this feature is Pacifist's capability to tell you where your .kext files came from (choose Display Kernel Extension Report from the Pacifist menu). A .kext file is a kernel extension; these files are crucial because they modify the operation of Mac OS X at a low level, so a buggy one can cause things to go mysteriously wrong. In this way, I see instantly that I have just two .kext files that weren't installed by Apple, and I know what both of them are for, so all is well.
What has always most struck me about Pacifist is its generosity. It does something difficult and technical and makes it easy and safe, along with a crystal-clear interface. Despite all the work that must have gone into writing and testing and maintaining it, Pacifist 2.0 is still just $20, and is true shareware: if you don't pay the fee, the only penalty is a nag screen at startup. This new version, besides fixing some bugs, adds full Tiger and Intel support, and allows reading of additional file formats (including .dmg). For registered owners of an earlier version, this upgrade is free.
Apple Opens Boot Camp for Windows Users
No, it's not April 1st, but yes, Apple Computer has just released a public beta of their Boot Camp software, which enables users of Intel-based Macs to install and run Windows XP. (Lest you see this as a sign of the apocalypse, remember that Apple sold DOS cards for Macs in the distant past to enable them to run PC software.) If you want to install Boot Camp and Windows XP, you won't need to mess with your Mac data at all, though you will need sufficient disk space for a Windows XP partition.
Boot Camp technology will be a feature of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, perhaps under a different name, but for now, you can use this beta to create a dual-boot system, switching between Mac OS X and Windows XP by holding down the Option key at startup and selecting the appropriate partition. The startup choice can also be set through a modified Startup Disk preference pane that Boot Camp installs, as well as a new Control Panel found in Windows XP after Boot Camp installs drivers and extensions.
Clever hackers had already managed to get Windows XP booting on Intel-based Macs – and won nearly $14,000 in private money by figuring it out – but the process is much harder than what Apple developed. Boot Camp provides a graphical assistant that walks the user through creating a second partition for Windows, burning a CD with the required Windows drivers (for your Mac's graphics card, wired and wireless networking, audio, Bluetooth, keyboard Eject button, and Brightness control for built-in displays), and installing Windows from the Windows XP installation CD.
Take special note of the partitioning process: You don't need to back up all the data on your hard disk, reformat the disk, repartition it with appropriately formatted Mac and Windows partitions, and then install Boot Camp. Rather, you simply use the Boot Camp software to create a dynamic logical partition that appears as valid as any previous statically created partition. This is possible only under Mac OS X systems using Intel Core processors using what Apple describes as a GUID Partition Table (GPT) using journaled HFS+ as the filesystem option. Our colleague Dan Frakes noted that "resizeVolume" is now an option for the command line diskutil Unix utility that's part of the Mac OS X 10.4.6 update. Diskutil mirrors the graphical Disk Utility application for most features. In an interview with TidBITS Contributing Editor Glenn Fleishman, Apple product managers wouldn't provide additional detail on this dynamic partitioning, but confirmed that it was new.
Your Mac volumes can be seen by the Windows system and vice-versa. For Windows partitions, you can choose to create either an old-style FAT32 volume, which can't create files larger than 4 GB, or new-style NTFS volume. NTFS has fairly sophisticated capabilities, including journaling – keeping a running record of changes to a volume that can be recovered even after a crash, just as newer versions of Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X 10.3 and later. But only the uglier FAT32 format can be read and written under Mac OS X natively; NTFS volumes mount read-only.
Mac volumes under Windows appear only if you install third-party software, such as MacDrive 6, which the company has already tested and found perfectly good performance with a Boot Camp installation.
Although Boot Camp's dual-boot capability is a first step, virtualization (running Windows within a window, or even running a Windows application as if it were just another program, in the way that Classic runs Mac OS 9 applications) would seem a much more desirable goal, since you wouldn't have to leave Mac OS X to run a Windows application. Virtualization also promises speeds comparable to native operation with the safety of running Windows in its own cage that can be restored to a base point – as in Microsoft's Virtual PC – more easily than a separately bootable Windows partition. Along with the open source Q project, at least three firms are working on virtualization software, including Parallels (whose public beta was released last week) and two others that aren't yet public with their plans. Microsoft may also update Virtual PC for Macintosh, but currently the company has not released any information on its plans. See "WinOnMac Smackdown: Dual-Boot versus Virtualization" later in this issue for a comparison of dual-boot and virtualization options available today.
<http://www.parallels.com/en/products/ workstation/mac/>
Virtualization may be further than Apple is willing to go, though, given that it could conceivably make developing software for Mac OS X less attractive than writing for Windows, which would then be a least common denominator. In particular, game developers would be unlikely to port their games to Mac OS X if there was no downside to writing only for Windows; the companies that would be hurt would be those that actually create the ported versions. I can't see users having any problem running games in Windows given that most games have their own custom interfaces anyway; it's not like anyone would notice if a game running in Mac OS X was really a Windows application as long as its performance didn't suffer. That said, I could easily imagine Boot Camp being built into Leopard in such a way that you could switch between Mac OS X and Windows XP much the way Fast User Switching works now.
To run Boot Camp, you need an Intel-based iMac, Mac mini, or a MacBook Pro with the latest firmware updates; Mac OS X 10.4.6; at least 10 GB of hard disk space; a blank recordable CD; a printer (Apple says about the setup instructions, "You'll want to print them before installing Windows, really."); and a bona fide installation disc for Microsoft Windows XP, Service Pack 2, Home Edition or Professional (multi-disc, upgrade, and Media Center versions won't work). A full copy of Windows XP Home Edition runs nearly $200; Professional, nearly $300. Apple is explicit about how it does not sell or support Windows, and thus you'll not only need your own copy, it's up to you to make sure it's appropriately patched and protected against the panoply of Windows malware. That means installing a robust firewall, anti-virus software, and anti-spyware software. We recommend Zone Alarm by Zone Labs for some of those functions; the company sells a bundle that includes components it doesn't make itself. Google also provides Google Pack, a collection of helpful free software for Windows that Mac users interested in playing with Windows might use as a starting point.
Interestingly, the license for Boot Camp is good until 30-Sep-07, so we can be pretty sure that Leopard will be out before then. The license also says that you're allowed to use Boot Camp purely for evaluation purposes and – amusingly – that it "does not permit the Apple Software to be used in a commercial operating environment where it may be relied upon to perform in the same manner as a final-release commercial-grade product or with data that is not sufficiently and regularly backed up." So what's Apple going to do, sue you if you happen to use Boot Camp in a "commercial operating environment"? You'd be dumb to rely on public beta software in such a situation (and it's perfectly reasonable for a license to warn you that you're using the software at your own risk), but methinks Apple's lawyers were a bit overzealous during some of the writing. But whatever you do, be sure not to use Boot Camp to run your nuclear reactor, airplane navigation system, air traffic control system, or life support machine – the license is clear about how Apple doesn't intend Boot Camp to be used anywhere where a bug could cause death, injury, or severe physical or environmental damage. Playing Solitaire is probably okay, and Outlook will likely cause only the mental part of environmental damage.
Lastly, on our staff mailing list, Apple's choice of the name "Boot Camp" prompted Geoff Duncan to riff on the notion of a stereotypical Army drill sergeant addressing a fresh crop of Windows switchers. We couldn't resist sharing. Enjoy!
"Think you're good enough for this computer, MAGGOTS? You are NOT! Did you HEAR me? You are NOT good enough for this computer. The only way – and I repeat, the ONLY way – you simpering short-haired pencil necks will be good enough is if every REAL computer user on this planet were abducted by aliens!
"WHAT?! You think that's FUNNY, Windows-boy? When I WANT you to laugh, I'll make a cute sound!
"Now then, since you WORMS are all we've GOT – " (Paces the line.) "What does Control-Alt-Delete do?"
"I can't HEEEAR you!"
"Where is the menu bar?"
"What are computers for?"
WinOnMac Smackdown: Dual-Boot versus Virtualization
Back in the days of yore when I wrote "From iPod to MacBook Pro: A Switcher's Tale" (you know, a month ago) I described how my primary personal justification for investing in a MacBook Pro was the possibility of eventually running Windows on my Mac desktop. I'd be able to work in the wonders of Mac OS X while still being able to access my corporate applications keeping me chained to Windows. I even predicted (boldly, some readers said), that it would be only a matter of months before we saw Windows on Macs.
I was wrong. It was only a matter of weeks.
Since my earlier article there's been significant progress in the field of running Windows on Intel-based Macs. Around the same time, a pair of hackers won nearly $14,000 for producing a repeatable method of dual-booting Windows on a Mac, and a universal binary version of Q emulation software appeared, enabling users to run Windows and Unix variations in emulation windows on the Mac desktop. Then, before the ink was dry on that $14,000 check, Apple released the Boot Camp beta version for official dual booting (see "Apple Opens Boot Camp for Windows Users" earlier in this issue).
It seems obvious that much more emphasis is focused on enabling dual booting over virtualization. Apple considered it important enough to dedicate resources to it and to release beta software while over 850 companies and individuals donated hard cash to the effort. But I see dual booting Windows on a Mac as merely a temporary solution, one that will fade to minor importance as we get full virtualization running in a hypervisor environment on Macs. Instead of exiting Mac OS X, rebooting and loading Windows XP (which will take longer than the current 23 seconds to boot Mac OS X on my MacBook Pro), running whatever application you need and then shutting down and transitioning back, you'll be able to run an instance of Windows XP within a window in Mac OS X, with very little performance degradation and support for nearly everything you need. Heck, I'm running a slightly crippled version of that exact scenario right now! But before we pit dual booting and virtualization in mortal combat, it's important to understand what virtualization and emulation are, what obstacles they face, and the potential long-term benefits.
Defining Our Terms — In short, a "hypervisor" is virtualization software that makes it possible to run multiple operating systems on a host computer. It does this by emulating a hardware environment for the guest operating system to run in, and we call this a "virtual machine." True hypervisors layer themselves between the host operating system and the physical hardware to maximize performance by minimizing any layers between the virtual machine and the hardware underneath.
Now for the long version. "Virtualization" is a bit of a loaded term with a number of potential meanings, so we need to narrow the field down a bit. For the purposes of this article I'm going to focus on virtual machines and application virtualization, and I apologize in advance for grossly oversimplifying. Whenever you abstract something, which means having some bit of code pretend to be a piece of hardware, it's a form of virtualization. In fact, you're already using quite a bit of virtualization technology on a modern Macintosh. Virtual memory is perhaps the most obvious use of virtualization – it uses space on the hard disk to simulate RAM. Multiple partitions on a single physical hard drive, disk images, a single partition spanning multiple physical drives (like a RAID) and even your iDisk are all virtual disks. The Java programming language is built on the concept of programming applications to run in a Java virtual machine – a software environment abstracted from the physical hardware of a system. Even those nice Flash animations use application virtualization.
"Emulation" is closely related to virtualization. With emulation we use software to emulate the response of incompatible hardware. The most well-known example of this is of course Virtual PC, which enables a PowerPC-based Mac to run Windows software by emulating the x86 hardware. Rosetta is also emulation software – when a PowerPC application runs on an Intel-based Mac, the Rosetta code translates instructions for a PowerPC processor into instructions for an x86 processor, then translates the results back to the application. That's why PowerPC applications run slower in Rosetta – every instruction to the CPU must be translated in both directions. Another, more entertaining example of emulation is MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), which is software that emulates arcade games and gaming consoles so you can play old arcade games on your computers.
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/virtualpc /virtualpc.aspx>
But the most exciting area of virtualization (and emulation) today is virtual machines and hypervisors. This time we're not talking about the limited application environment of a Java virtual machine, but running a complete host operating system within another operating system. The most famous examples of this are VMWare, Virtual PC for Windows, QEMU, and Xen. Each operates a bit differently, but all essentially create a virtual machine into which you can install a different operating system, regardless of the host hardware and operating system (as long as it's supported).
We call the software that manages this process a "virtual machine manager" or "hypervisor," the system running the virtual machine the "host operating system," and the system running inside the virtual machine the "guest operating system." Thus we create a virtual machine by emulating the hardware needed for the guest (that's what hypervisor software does). This leads to some interesting results. One of the best results is that virtual machines are portable, since they aren't tied to the host hardware. I have a couple of Windows XP virtual machines in various stages of patches that I move from computer to computer merely by copying the image file over. In an enterprise environment this means you can have highly portable standard images, which is nifty if you manage a lot of servers. We can also run multiple virtual machines at the same time on a single system, in some cases emulating entire networks with workstations and servers. I've run up to three virtual machines in VMWare on my Dell Pentium 4 2.4 GHz computer and the biggest limitation is memory.
Of course, that's not the case with Virtual PC on a Mac, where Windows performance is, frankly, mediocre at best. The performance problems stem from having to emulate the x86 processor architecture on top of Mac OS X while running a virtual machine. We're talking multiple layers of translation here and a layer of emulation across two operating systems and different hardware, which is not the best combination for good performance. But those of you who may have also run VMWare, Xen, or QEMU on x86 probably noticed much better virtual machine performance. That's because those tools play tricks to minimize the translations needed and allow processor commands more direct access to the hardware underneath.
VMWare tends to pass CPU calls directly to the processor while emulating the rest of the hardware environment (video, peripherals, etc.) that might change from system to system. Thus we eliminate much of the translation (and some of the emulation) needed and our guest operating system runs at near-native performance. These benefits don't translate for system components that are fully emulated, like video cards, so VMWare is more suited for business applications than the latest version of Unreal Tournament. Whereas VMWare is commercial software dedicated to the x86 architecture, QEMU is open source and capable of emulating and running on a few major hardware platforms, including PowerPC-based Macs. In some cases, and now we're back to x86, programmers developed accelerators similar to VMWare to speed up performance by skipping some of the translation. Xen, another open source virtualization tool, takes it a step further and relies on highly optimized guest operating systems to achieve essentially native performance.
Into the Ring — Back to the smackdown. Now that Macs run on Intel x86 processors we have two options for running Windows. We can dual-boot the machine and just run Windows natively, or we can run Windows in a virtual machine that's running in Mac OS X. Each has advantages and disadvantages, but my preference is virtualization, and I have it running today.
My goal is to use my MacBook Pro as my primary system when I travel, which means running just a few Windows applications, including our corporate VPN, corporate dial up networking, and Outlook (I need to keep my .pst files, so Entourage isn't an option). I'd rather run this within Mac OS X if possible, but dual booting will at least buy me time. I first looked into the dual-boot process published by OnMac.net, but it was pretty labor-intensive and prone to error. I figured I could always come back to it if necessary.
Luckily, Apple's public beta of Boot Camp is an official, user-friendly, dual-boot installer and manager. As many of you know by now, the Intel-based Macs use EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) instead of BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) for the firmware, but EFI works only with Mac OS X for now (Windows Vista will support EFI too). Thus, creating a dual-boot Mac is not as simple as installing Windows and Linux on the same PC; we need some sort of emulator to pretend to be BIOS and allow the operating system to load. Boot Camp seems to do that seamlessly along with repartitioning your hard disk on the fly and creating a CD of drivers for all the nifty Mac hardware that's not yet supported in Windows. Simple, easy, reliable, and not all that interesting for me personally, especially since none of my half-dozen Windows XP install CDs meet the Service Pack 2 requirement. (If you're in the same situation, it is possible to build a Windows XP SP2 installation CD from the original XP CD and the downloaded service pack, assuming you have access to a Windows machine and some technical chops.)
<http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_ sp2_slipstream.asp>
So I decided to move on to virtualization. The open source QEMU can now run on either PowerPC- or Intel-based Macs, and there is a wonderful Mac OS X port of QEMU called Q, with all sorts of Aqua goodness. QEMU on a PowerPC-based Mac suffers from the same performance limitations as Virtual PC but theoretically could be enhanced on the Intel Core Duo Macs for greater performance.
My initial attempts at using Q gave mixed results. I downloaded and installed Q as instructed. First, you're supposed to create a disk image to install your new operating system. Then you have to launch the virtual machine and tell it to boot off your installation CD, just like installing on real hardware. I inserted my old Windows XP Service Pack 1 CD into the MacBook Pro, launched Q, configured it to boot on the local CD-ROM drive and… nothing. Reading the support forums confirmed that I was doing everything exactly right. So I tried creating a disk image of the Windows install CD and using that instead and… nothing again. Frustrated to no end, I tried a good old fashioned reboot, launched Q again, and it all just worked. I was up and running and the install process was no different than any other time I installed Windows, although it slogged like using an old 386 processor instead of a Core Duo. The install completed normally, I switched Q to boot off the virtual hard drive instead of the system CD, and there it was – the Windows login screen on my Mac desktop.
The first thing I tried to do was install our corporate VPN client (like many businesses we don't use standard IPsec for manageability and security reasons). This is the single most important step to meet my goal of shelving my corporate PC. Unfortunately, I encountered a fatal memory error that wouldn't disappear after multiple reboots. Upgrading to Service Pack 2 didn't help, nor did creating a Windows XP virtual machine in QEMU on my PC (in fact, the version running on my PC crashed even harder when trying to run the VPN client).
Without our corporate VPN client, my Q experiment was essentially a failure, though I went on to install Microsoft Office and test Outlook. Everything worked fine, if slowly. I could transfer files between Mac OS X and Windows easily with a shared folder, access the Internet, and install software – just not all software. I've used a fair number of virtualization packages and while Q is slow, it's usable in a pinch. Barely. That will change, of course. A group of QEMU programmers are feverishly working away at kernel extensions to provide the Mac version with the same speed benefits as running on Windows.
But last week saw more than just Boot Camp, since Q was joined by another virtualization program, this time from Parallels Software. The public beta of Parallels Workstation 2.1 for Mac OS X promises near-native performance for any version of Windows (not just XP), any Linux distribution, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2, eComStation, or even MS-DOS.
<http://www.parallels.com/en/products/ workstation/mac/>
I have now completed installation and testing of Parallels Workstation with a Windows XP virtual machine. I'm happy to say that with it, virtualization is real, – and really fast – on Intel-based Macs today. Parallels Workstation installed without a hitch, and I quickly created a Windows XP virtual machine. I was able to patch it to Service Pack 2, and it accepted my corporate VPN. I'm now happily connected and running Outlook as if I was on the corporate network. And did I mention that it's fast? Taking advantage of Intel's Virtualization Technology results in extremely solid performance that's faster than VMWare on my PC and possibly faster than my work PC. While I haven't tested advanced graphics yet, I think it's safe to say that thanks to Parallels, we have full virtualization on the Mac with better performance than some PC solutions. Heck, I've even already filled up my virtual hard drive with the Windows software I need to use on a regular basis.
Pick Your Poison — For those of you thinking of running Windows on your Intel Mac, here's a rundown of your options with my personal recommendations.
If you are interested in gaming or other high performance software, or need immediate full support of Windows, go with Apple's Boot Camp. You'll need to reboot to switch between Mac and Windows, but it works and will always be the best option if you need to push every bit of performance out of that video card.
For those of you, like me, that just need a few Windows applications to get your job done and don't feel like rebooting, virtualization is the way to go. Parallels seems rock solid, but if you want open source, Q should offer respectable performance in the near future. I expect to see additional offerings from VMWare, Microsoft, and possibly even Apple down the road.
What does the future hold? While virtualization is here today, it's not inconceivable that we could see Rosetta for Windows on a Mac in the more distant future. This would mean that instead of running Windows inside a window, you could run an individual Windows application much as you do with Classic applications on PowerPC-based Macs today.
I don't see this as a priority for Apple, but there are no technical reasons why it shouldn't be possible. It's a difficult problem, and I'm not sure it makes business sense for Apple, but it's been done to a certain degree already on Linux with the WINE project (which isn't emulation, but implementation of Windows APIs).
One thing is certain: Windows and Macs are much closer than they were a few months ago. And maybe, just maybe, we Mac types will be able to use our favorite computers at work without battling corporate IT.
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/10-Apr-06
The first link for each thread description points to the traditional TidBITS Talk interface; the second link points to the same discussion on our Web Crossing server, which provides a different look and which may be faster.
Whither Eudora? News on development of the Eudora email application has been pretty quiet lately. Is it time to switch to Apple's Mail? (3 messages)
Rough numbers of Mac users — How many are we? And where do you go to find this sort of information? (8 messages)
Comparing Business Card Design Software — Joe Kissell's article comparing Business Card Composer and SOHO Business Cards yields readers' experiences, plus an inexpensive method of avoiding smudges on home-printed cards. (9 messages)
Where does iWeb save its files? Apple's Web design component of iLife '06 doesn't make it easy to locate your files in the Finder, as a reader discovers when trying to combine two sites. (4 messages)
RSA Anti-phishing — Readers debate a proposed method of trying to stop phishing scams. (6 messages)
Boot Camp enables Windows XP dual-boot — Last week's release of the Boot Camp beta prompts plenty of discussion. (34 messages)
Windows via virtualization — Readers theorize about whether Apple's next move after Boot Camp is being able to run Windows within Mac OS X (see elsewhere in this issue for much more information). (20 messages)
Apple Just Saved Me $1000 — Jeff Carlson's ExtraBITS post brings some focus on the importance of industrial design to Apple's success. (2 messages)
Crossing platforms with PowerPoint — Tips on making PowerPoint presentations work under both Windows and Mac OS X. (1 message)
On partition wrangling — Boot Camp can dynamically partition a hard drive without requiring that you erase and reinstall the operating system, but can you go in the other direction to combine multiple partitions into one? (2 messages)


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Rick Berg on Energy & Oil |
Proponent's Argument for voting Yes:
[Rep. Young, R-AK]: The Americans suffering from $4 a gallon gas today must feel like they're experiencing a sense of deja vu. In 2008, when gasoline prices reached a record high of $4.11 per gallon, the public outcry forced Congress to act. That fall, Congress lifted the offshore drilling ban that had been in place for decades. Three years later, most Americans would likely be shocked to learn that no energy development
has happened in these new areas.
Opponent's Argument for voting No:
[Rep. Markey, D-MA]. In the first 3 months of this year, Exxon-Mobil made $10 billion off of the American consumer; Shell made $8 billion; BP made $7 billion. So what are these companies asking for? These companies are now asking that we open up the beaches of California, Florida & New England to drill for oil. People who live near those beaches don't want oil coming in the way it did in the Gulf of Mexico. Right now, those oil companies are centered down in the Gulf of Mexico. People are concerned because those companies have blocked any new safety reforms that would protect against another catastrophic spill. We have to oppose this bill because, first of all, they already have 60 million acres of American land that they haven't drilled on yet, which has about 11 billion barrels of oil underneath it and an equivalent amount of natural gas. This bill is just a giveaway to Exxon-Mobil and Shell.
Opponent's Argument for voting No:
[Rep. Waxman, D-CA]: This bill is a direct assault on the Clean Air Act. Its premise is that climate change is a hoax and carbon pollution does not endanger health and welfare. But climate change is real. It is caused by pollution, and it is a serious threat to our health and welfare. We need to confront these realities. American families count on the EPA to keep our air and water clean. But this bill has politicians overruling the experts at EPA, and it exempts our biggest polluters from regulation. If this bill is enacted, the EPA's ability to control dangerous carbon pollution will be gutted.
No Climate Tax Pledge: I pledge to the taxpayers of my state, and to the American people, that I will oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue.
Sponsoring organizations: Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEU); National Taxpayers Union (NTU); Institute for Liberty Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders committed to advancing every individual's right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and intrusiveness of government is the best way to promote individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens to support restraining state and federal government growth and returning government to its constitutional limits. AFP is more than 1.6 million activists strong, with activists in all 50 states. AFP has 31 state chapters and affiliates. More than 70,000 Americans in all 50 states have made a financial contribution to AFP or AFP Foundation. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org
The Christian Coalition voter guide [is] one of the most powerful tools Christians have ever had to impact our society during elections. This simple tool has helped educate tens of millions of citizens across this nation as to where candidates for public office stand on key faith and family issues.
The CC survey summarizes candidate stances on the following topic: "Tax credits for investment in renewable sources of energy, (such as wind, solar & biomass)"
Congressional Summary:Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2016 the tax credit for electricity produced from wind, biomass, geothermal or solar energy, landfill gas, trash, hydropower, and marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy facilities.
Proponent's Comments (Governor's Wind Energy Coalition letter of Nov. 15, 2011 signed by 23 governors):Although the tax credit for wind energy has long enjoyed bipartisan support, it is scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2012. Wind-related manufacturing is beginning to slow in our states because the credit has not yet been extended. If Congress pursues a last minute approach to the extension, the anticipated interruption of the credit's benefits will result in a significant loss of high-paying jobs in a growing sector of the economy. We strongly urge Congress to adopt a more consistent and longer-term federal tax policy to support wind energy development, such as H.R. 3307.
The leading wind project developers and manufacturers are slowing their plans for 2013 and beyond due to the current uncertainty. The ripple effect of this slow down means reduced orders for turbines and decreased business for the hundreds of manufacturers who have entered the wind industry in our states. When Congress allowed the tax credit to expire in 1999, 2001, and 2003, the development of new wind installations dropped significantly, between 73% and 93%, and thousands of jobs were lost. Providing renewable energy tax credits in order to provide consistency with conventional energy tax credits is the right policy to move the nation forward in an energy sector that offers global export opportunities and the ability to modernize a segment of our electric production infrastructure.

subset: commoncrawl


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Erasmus Hall High School
Class Of 1960
Hey guys and gals, it's the official web site of the...
Erasmus Hall High School Class Of 1960 |
Next Class Reunion:
Postponed to June 1 or 2, 2024
50th Reunion Story
Brunch - October 17, 2010
See photos from our brunch at Cibo in New York City.
50th Reunions photos are here... almost 300
This web site is just for us -- to find and catch up with old friends, make some new friends, and answer the all-important question: "whatever happened to ....?". It's easier and more private than Facebook.
While you're at it, you can poke around the site and help us locate missing classmates and identify deceased classmates.
The Reunion Committee will continue to support the web site as long as you keep visiting. If your Erasmus Hall 1960 friends haven't yet joined the site, they might want to join now to view the reunion photos.
Reunion Photos
Wasn't that a wonderful 50th Reunion? Four events, highlighted by the gala at the Brooklyn Marriott. We could have danced all night -- or all weekend! Take a look at our photos to remember the weekend, or if you didn't make it, to see what you missed.
Also, look at the Message Forum to see comments about reunion... and add your own.
Our Photos
Around 300 photos are posted in the 50th Reunion Gallery. If anyone is misidentified or unidentified, please send along corrections.
If you took photos at any of the events, and you're willing to share, please send the photos to email@example.com and they will be posted at this site. (This will work better than just posting them at your site profile page or at an online photo site, since they'll all be in one place.) When you do this, please identify people in the photos and the event.
To submit photos, you can email them or point to a website, such as Picasa, where you've uploaded the photos. If you have only hard copy photos, you can mail prints. They will be scanned and returned them promptly -- please send a message to discuss this.
Professional Photos
The professional photo studio, Fine Art Photos, has posted around 120 photos. They're very well done. Copies of the proofs are on this website in the 50th Reunion Gallery.


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Avago Technologies is a leading designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of analog, digital, mixed signal and optoelectronics components and subsystems with a focus in III-V compound and CMOS based semiconductor design and processing.
Avago's extensive product portfolio serves four primary target markets: wireless communications, enterprise storage, wired infrastructure, and industrial and other. Applications for our products in these target markets include cellular phones and base stations, data networking, storage and telecommunications equipment, factory automation, power generation and alternative energy systems, and displays.
Co-headquartersSingapore |
San José, CA USA1320 Ridder Park Drive |


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The Popular Undertaker
A year or so again, I was inspired by an inscription outside the Most Precious Blood Church on Baxter near Canal to go on a hunt to find out more about undertaker Charles Bacigalupo. I discovered quite a bit during that afternoon, including finding the former (now hidden) location of his funeral home on Mulberry Street. You can read all about it here.
Anyway, a kind reader saw that post and sent me the above photo. It's of Columbus Park in the 1910s. You can't miss the Bacigalupo ad. "The popular undertaker of greater New York." (Are undertakers ever popular?) That Charles was sure a grandstander.


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Hundreds of Yorkshire convictions - potentially including murders and rapes - at risk over '˜data tampering' at lab
Two men were arrested earlier this year by Greater Manchester Police on suspicion of perverting the course of justice over allegations that some 484 cases - over 200 of which related to Yorkshire - handled by Randox Testing Services were affected by what the National Police Chiefs' Council called "data manipulation" of toxicology results.
The original 484 cases largely related to drug-driving offences but a police probe has now revealed more than 6,000 toxicology samples, including for murder offences, could be at risk. It is not yet known how many of the new cases that have been uncovered relate to Yorkshire.
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Hide AdThe Yorkshire Post revealed in March that Randox had provided toxicology services to all four of Yorkshire's forces.
A team of forensic experts are identifying any live cases which require retesting and past cases where convictions could be unsafe, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said.
"The majority of cases affected are Road Traffic Act offences such as drug driving.
"However, RTS provided toxicology tests for other offences including rape, assault and murder so it is possible these cases could be affected," a spokesman added.
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Hide AdDeputy Chief Constable James Vaughan, NPCC forensic expert, warned that the number of affected samples could change again as the investigation continues.
He said: "This is a serious breach of the very rigorous professional standards set by the Forensic Science Regulator for staff and organisations working in this critical field.
"We now have a clearer picture of the scale of this data manipulation and have been able to set out a plan of action in partnership with RTS, the Forensic Science Regulator and the CPS.
"The numbers affected could change as our investigations progress.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"We are prioritising the most serious and pressing cases but all cases where there could have been an impact on prosecution will be assessed, retested and appropriate action taken.
"It is important that we nationally prioritise retesting of samples to ensure that resubmitted samples do not flood the market and impact on other important ongoing cases.
"While there has been limited retesting to date, the evidence has shown that in the vast majority of cases, the original reporting was accurate. "
The Crown Prosecution Service has been warned that a number of cases due in court soon need retesting of samples.
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Hide AdThe allegations came to light in January when concerns were raised about data from RTS in a drug driving case and a criminal investigation was launched by Greater Manchester Police.
Two members of staff at RTS Manchester laboratory, aged 47 and 31, were arrested and bailed on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
RTS's Manchester lab had its accreditation suspended on March 21 and has voluntarily suspended accreditation at its Northern Ireland site. Law firm Freeman & Co previously suggests the case of a 26-year-old Chester man who was arrested on suspicion of drug-driving has been dropped as a result of the investigation. The results claimed to show the driver was not only over the prescribed limit for cannabis, but his blood also tested positive for traces of cocaine and another, which the defendant disputed.


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We ran into a little issue where Windows Server Standard only supports 32 GB of memory, which is depressing to find out when your server was recently upgraded to 48 awesome GB of memory.
Is it possible to do an in-place upgrade from Windows Server Standard (max 32 GB memory support) to Windows Server Enterprise or Datacenter (max 2TB memory support)?
I tried kicking off the Windows Server 2008 setup.exe from within the OS, which gives me an "upgrade" option.. but when I get to the "Where do you want to install Windows" part of the process, it tells me
The partition you selected might contain files from a previous Windows installation. If it does, these files and folders will be moved to a folder named Windows.old. You will be able to access the information in Windows.old, but you will not be able to use your previous versions of Windows
That's... not... what I had in mind when I clicked "upgrade"!
I really don't want to deal with a clean OS install on our production database sever, and would much rather do an upgrade install if at all possible!


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Uniting the World is the charity arm of CSLI (Canadian as a Second Language Institute) an English language school in Yaletown, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. These projects are the creation of the students, staff and owners of CSLI and it is our way of showing we care.
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Thunderstorms were forecasted
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Written by cslivancouver


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Talking Goose Talk
Learn the basic calls before trying to master the entire language
Learn the basic calls before trying to master the entire language
by Gary Koehler
While growing up, and continuing to this day, there was always something reassuring about the clarion cries of migrating Canada geese. They seldom arrived by calendar, but most often appeared when the air first became crisp and the trees began flashing the rich golds and reds of autumn. No matter the project at hand, there was always time to stop and listen.
Geese are the chatterboxes of the waterfowl world. Researchers have determined that Canada goose language includes more than 20 distinct sounds. Perhaps no one can be sure of the exact topic of each conversation, but goose hunters who harbor hopes of outstretched wings over their decoys would do well to master at least a small portion of this colorful dialect.
Talking goose takes practice, which takes time, which takes discipline. The dividends of this labor, however, can make the difference between an endless string of frustrating birdless days and success in the goose fields on a regular basis.
Mechanical calls used to lure geese have changed during the past five years. Flutes, first introduced during the mid-1950s, dominated the market for decades. These days, however, short-reed goose calls are most often the chosen tools.
"The key to short-reeds," says professional guide Shawn Eldredge of Des Moines, Iowa, " is their versatility. I can do 23 different calls in goose language on a short reed, opposed to 12 calls on a flute. I don't use all those different calling sounds, but sometimes I have to pull one of the odd ones out to make things work."
Eldredge, who has been tagged with the nickname of "Goose Guru," for the past 12 years has concentrated his efforts in the Midwest, regularly hunting in Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri. He is typically in the field up to 128 days a year, beginning with the resident goose seasons and wrapping up during the spring snow goose season.
"With early-season geese, the hutta-cluck works very well over water and grasses, like alfalfa or in a pasture. Simply say 'hutta-hutta-hutta' into your call. Emphasize on the 'T.' That's with either a short-reed or a flute," Eldredge says.
"It's important to start with a reference note. That is, like you are humming into the call. I say 'grrrr' or 'grrrrit.' That reference note will get the reed vibrating. From there, you can go into the hutta call."
Weather conditions, time of year, locale, and bird behavior all play a role in determining what Eldredge pulls out of his bag of tricks.
"Reading birds is part of it," Eldredge says. "Sometimes, they may not want to hear much, so you give them some low-end growls and a couple of clucks. If they turn, you go light with the hutta-cluck, and hutta-cluck them all the way down.
"If they don't respond," Eldredge continues, "change up, stop, slow down, speed up, and figure out what they want to hear. Don't be afraid to try different things. In general, early in the season, once you get geese on a string, they usually come in because there are a lot of juveniles."
Eldredge seldom employs a hail call for geese. Instead, he relies on flagging, a well-designed decoy spread, and staying well hidden, to get the birds' attention and draw them near.
"If the birds get close after doing the hutta-cluck, but maybe start to peel off a little bit, slow your calling down, and do a cluck and a murmur. That translates into confidence--that the birds [decoys]are sitting there, eating. That's what you want to do when you are calling geeseimitate a feeding flock," Eldredge says.
Across the Mississippi River, Richie McKnight honed his goose-calling prowess in agricultural fields throughout Illinois. Though not yet 30, McKnight has distinguished himself in the competitive calling ranks by winning nearly every major contest in the nation. Last fall he captured first place in the prestigious Winchester World Open.
"When I was learning how to call geese the first thing that I tried to get down was the cluck," McKnight says. "I kept working to get that one perfect note. A lot of guys will pick up a call and don't have a good snap or pop to their calling. That's because they don't practice.
"Even today, after winning some contests, I still practice those clucks. Real sharp clucks. Then I practice the moan. Those two calls, I think, will kill more geese than anything. I would advise people to perfect those two calls before they did anything else with a goose call."
McKnight says his calling style is slightly different from many callers with whom he is familiar. While some guides use the words "hut," or "hoot," or "hutta" while blowing into their calls, McKnight goes with a "to-wit" while calling geese. He is not alone there, but the point is, finding a word or words that work best for you might take some experimentation. Where you are set up also figures to be a factor.
"I call more aggressively when I'm hunting migrating birds," McKnight says. "They want to hear a lot of noise. They are usually flying high and, to get them down, you have to give them a lot of racket. Another time to be more aggressive is when the geese are about to light outside your decoys. You really get after it then, and sometimes you can lift them right up and pull them right to you.
"The way that I call aggressively is by double-clucking," McKnight says. "I am saying the words 'hit it,' 'hit it,' 'hit it.' You have to have a lot of back pressure and that makes the tongue go a little faster. You go as fast as you can."
There are, however, times when less is definitely much more.
"I do not call loudly in the fog because the sound carries so well. I want to be kind of quiet on a foggy day because geese are nervous when it's foggy. And on days when there is no wind, I hardly call at them at all," McKnight says.
"You can definitely overcall geese. You have to learn to watch and listen. If I hear geese in the air talking a lot back and forth, I will call at them because their calling is telling me that they are excited. But if they are flying on a calm day and not making much noise, you have to be careful because if you blow too loud or too hard you will blow them right out of the field."
After a lengthy hiatus due to a precipitous drop in the Atlantic Flyway goose population, Canada goose hunting returned to the East Coast last fall. Tom Marvel, who has guided in the Chestertown, Maryland, area for 22 seasons, was ready and waiting. But his game plan has been altered.
"We specialize in snow geese now," Marvel says. "That corresponded with the shutdown on Canadas in 1996, but we had started fooling with them four or five years before.
"The thing about snows," Marvel adds, "is that they are much smarter than Canadas. It is harder to use a call for snow geese. The best call for snow geese, as far as I am concerned, is good decoys."
Marvel often employs mounted snow geese, or "stuffers," as decoys. There is a reason for his setting out and picking up a rig of 200 stuffers on a daily basis.
"The snow geese here get more pressure than any other snow geese in the country," Marvel says. "The days of the Texas rags are over. They won't come to them any more in Maryland. You have to use the best decoys you can afford, and have some motion in your decoys.
"In the spring, when things are really tough, we have to use stuffers. We'll use 200 opposed to 700 or 800 shells. That time of year, the birds won't come to plastic anymore. But they will come to feathers."
Snow geese often move in huge flocks. Because of the incredible amount of noise that these birds make as a group, calling can be a futile exercise.
"The way they fly around here, particularly when there are smaller bunches, or trading birds, I think the best thing to do is call to the goose that is calling to you. You have to try and talk to that one goose, mimic its same sounds. Later on, when the snows are in flocks of 500 to 3,000, they are not going to hear your call anyway," Marvel says.
"I have noticed that snow geese are much more susceptible to being killed over water," Marvel continues. "They are more apt to decoy to water decoys than field decoys. I guess they just feel safer.
"The most important thing, though, is scouting. We scout every day, as soon as the hunting party is done. We want to know where the geese are going when they leave. When we find them, we set up the next day right where they left."
Though somewhat restrictive, the revival of the Maryland Canada goose season is a return to the region's waterfowling roots. Local guides, including Marvel, have dusted off their Canada calls in anticipation of the honkers.
"People who hunt Canada geese, the most important thing for them is to find a goose call that they are comfortable with. There are so many different ones now . . . flutes and short reeds. They are blown by totally different techniques. To me, a short reed sounds more like a goose than any other type of call. And it's more like blowing a duck call."
Marvel starts calling to passing geese as soon as he thinks they can hear him.
"As they get closer, start clucking and double-clucking," Marvel says. "For a single cluck, use the word 'hut.' For a double cluck, say 'hut, hut,' into the call. If the geese start to leave, use the comeback call. That's like a cry, a longer, drawn-out 'hut,' but you keep the end note sustained."
Along the West Coast, Dave Smith is fresh off winning the Oregon state goose calling championship. Last fall, he became the first caller from the Northwest (Washington and Oregon) ever to make the cut in a national goose calling contest at the World Championship in Maryland. Smith can generally be found in Oregon's goose-rich Willamette Valley.
"There are five huntable species of geese here," Smith says. "Around 300,000 or so geese go through the valley each year. Twenty years ago, though, the dusky Canada goose (not fair game) was the only one. We've had to learn to hunt geese here. It is not like some areas where people have been doing it their whole lives."
Smith, however, has watched and learned.
"The most important thing a guy can do is to learn to make a super-goosey, super-natural cluck, in varying tones, in both high- and low-pitch versions," Smith says. "What I see a lot of guys doing is picking up a call and trying to make a whole bunch of sounds. You should first try to make a goosey cluck. If that's all you can do, you can still kill geese by only doing that.
"I personally like to have at least two calls with me. One is loud, with a high pitch, to get their attention and get them coming," Smith says, "and the other is lower and quieter, to finish the birds with."
Smith favors the short-reed style call, even though it is still relatively new to his region. Flute calls, he says, have maintained their popularity in Oregon.
"If you can do a good cluck, everything else will come to you," Smith says. "There are a couple of different styles of cluck. The goosiest is saying the word 'ook.' You can drag it out a little longer or shorten it up. If you close your hands down tight, that makes a low cluck. If you open up your hands, it makes a high cluck. It is extremely important to vary those tones. In the animal word, or with geese, if you make the same note over and over again, that's a distress sound.
"The cluck is the most basic sound of the goose. Another sound is the moan, which is much more seductive. If geese are not buying your calling, a moan can be used to draw them in and finish. The basic mechanics of it are that a cluck is high and low notes close together. A moan is a low note only, like 'ooooo.' You drag it out. There's a little more to it than just that, but that's the basics.
"There are quite a few versions to the comeback call, and that would be the next thing you would want to learn. The sound is what's called a bawl. You make it with two tones, a high and a low, on the short-reed call."
So how does Smith, who may have five different subspecies of Canada geese circling his field at any time, handle the diversity in birds?
"There are lots of variables because of the number of subspecies of geese. Generally, the smaller the subspecies, the more I call, and I think that applies anywhere. So, with cacklers and Taverners, I am usually pouring it on like crazy, but with Canadas I am much more subtle, making more of a growling sound," Smith says.
Learn the basics. Keep it simple in the beginning. And remember, no professional guide or contest caller ever mastered all of the nuances of blowing a goose call in a single sitting.
Opinions on goose spread designs may vary from field to field, or club to club, or state to state. If there is a consensus of opinion, it is the almost-universal belief that more decoys are much more effective than fewer decoys. There are exceptions.
"Too many people, because they think they need large numbers of decoys, go out and buy the cheapest ones they can find," champion goose caller Richie McKnight says. "I don't believe in that. If you are going to buy decoys, save your money and buy good ones. I would rather have fewer really good decoys than a pile of bad ones. People should buy the best decoys that they can afford."
Decoy placement often is another point of contention.
"I am adamant about not doing a standard spread," says professional guide Dave Smith. "When I watch geese, they are never in a specific pattern like an 'X' or an 'I,' like some people use. I put my decoys out randomly and make sure there's a clear hole for the birds to land in. As part of the randomness, I put some decoys shoulder to shoulder, and spread others apart. I don't think all decoys should be the same distance apart."
Goose Guru Shawn Eldredge hunts from pits, haybale blinds, and layout blinds.
"In the spring, when we are hunting snow geese, I put my clients in haybale blinds along fencelines, because I don't think snows are used to that," Eldredge says. "In a lot of these fields, the hilltops are fed out. The green is on the sides of the fields. That's where the food is, and the geese know that.
"I'm one of the few people I know about who uses Bigfoot snow goose decoys. If set up along a fenceline, hunting spring snows in particular, I'll set my decoys in what I call a 'sleeping P.'
"If the wind is to the right, I will start 15 yards away from the fenceline and run to the left (downwind) a thin line of Bigfoots. They'll go past the haybale blind and the 'P' will go straight out in front of you. Family groups are set up to the right of the 'P,' and magnet flyers are put at the top of the 'P,' like they are trying to jump ahead of the whole flock. The geese will always try to come along the thin stem into the 'P,' which is right in front of the clients."


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This article is more than 1 year old
Pentagon plans massive surge in Cyber Command staff
Boosting online warrior numbers from 900 to 4,900
The US military is planning a massive increase in the capabilities of its Cyber Command online-warfare department as it seeks to exert dominance over the digital battlefield.
"Given the malicious actors that are out there and the development of the technology, in my mind, there's little doubt that some adversary is going to attempt a significant cyberattack on the United States at some point," William Lynn III, a former deputy defense secretary, told the Washington Post.
"The only question is whether we're going to take the necessary steps like this one to deflect the impact of the attack in advance or . . . read about the steps we should have taken in some post-attack commission report," he said.
Currently there are around 900 uniformed and civilian staff employed by the Pentagon in its Cyber Command, which is separate from the National Security Agency – at least in principle. In practice, however, the two work side-by-side, and both are headed by the same man, General Keith Alexander
A senior defense official told the paper that the Pentagon would primarily focus on online activity outside of US domestic borders, and would only be involved in major online attacks, not minor hacking and phishing annoyances. US companies and those international companies that use American-hosted services won't be touched.
"There's no intent to have the military crawl inside industry or private networks and provide that type of security," the official said.
The staffing increase is scheduled to begin later this year and next, but there are likely to be problems simply finding that many people with the right skills to do the job. The military was at last year's Black Hat hacking conference looking for recruits and support from the private security industry, but weren't finding many takers.
Security researchers who have worked with the Pentagon have complained that all too often the government wants to know their security tricks, but isn't willing to share its knowledge or pay the kind of rates that researchers can make in private industry.
There's also the fact that other government agencies are increasingly targeting the security community for special investigation over the last few years, since WikiLeaks started releasing US State Department cables. Many in the industry are feeling little love for the US government at the moment, and this could reduce its ability to hire the best talent.
General Alexander has agreed to stay on in his roles until at least 2014 to manage the increase in numbers.


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2 pounds turkey wings
2 pounds turkey necks
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 white onions, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
1⁄2 bunch fresh sage
4 springs fresh parsley with stem
1 small spring fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
6 whole black peppercorns
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Prepare oven according to Mugnaini's Medium Roasting Environment, 550 – 625˚F
Place turkey necks and wings in roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Place in oven and roast for about 30 minutes, turning occasionally until they are a dark brown color. Remove from pan and set aside. Add coarsely chopped onions, celery and carrots to roasting pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove and add 1 – 2 cups water to scrape up all the browned bits on the pan's bottom.
Place roasting pan contents along with browned neck and wings into large stock pot. Add sage, rosemary, parsley, bay leaf and peppercorns, cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 2 – 3 hours.
Strain through a colander, discard solids and reserve liquid for gravy. (May be made in advance up to this stage and placed in refrigerator for 3 days or frozen for one month).
Melt butter in a clean pan and add flour. Cook roux, stirring frequently until it is a golden brown with a toasted aroma. Slowly whisk in the hot strained turkey stock and cook for 15 – 20 minutes until thickened.


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Show All Answers
One reason a cause of death may not be entered into VSIMS within this time is if the RA was found into be incomplete and/or needing additional cause of death information. Our office will contact your funeral home and notify you of this situation and update you as to what information is missing. If we are unable to reach you, please also review the comments section of the Decedent's VSIMS record.
Another common reason the cause of death may not yet be recorded in VSIMS is if Maricopa Office of Vital Records is still awaiting the complete Human Remains Release Form (HRRF) from your facility.
Please fax the HRRF to our office within 24 hours of removing the Decedent from the place of death. Remember, to ensure that the form is complete and accurate so our office may complete our part of the death registration process.
We have found that this advance notice may assist the certifier with completing the RA quickly and efficiently and most physicians will accommodate the needs of the family and expedite the certification of cause of death, as best possible.
Please call the Maricopa County Office of Vital Records Disposition Transit Permit Coordinator at 602-372-0535, ext. 2 so we may be ready to accommodate a potential emergency permit request or advise as suitable. Although we will do our best to accommodate the family's needs, we cannot guarantee that the cause of death will be sufficient and a disposition transit permit will be issued by the planned date of disposition.
Maricopa Office of Vital Records is required by the Arizona Department of Health Services to receive a sufficient cause of death in accordance with national standards and in some cases certified causes of death are required to be reviewed further by the Medical Examiner of the relevant jurisdiction.


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Yesterday I did a wrap up of our Thanksgiving dinner and decor, but I wanted to share how I put together the hanging centerpiece before I move on to all things Christmas.
There are no rules here. I mixed yard clippings with rhinestones and mercury glass with mason jars… it all worked together.
I explained how easy this shelf was to build, but it is even easier to create a beautiful display with items you already have in your house or in your yard.
I started with several of the real pumpkins left over from Halloween, which I had upcycled and blinged out with Tori Spelling jewelry pieces. The first step was to get the basic shape you're going to design around. I wanted it to be higher in the middle than on the ends, so I used assorted candle holders or glasses to elevate the pumpkins to the height I wanted, creating kind of an arc.
Please forgive my terrible "pen tool" skills on the photo editing program. #lame |
Once I had the basic shape that I wanted, I could start filling in the centerpiece. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that every single bit of greenery used was clipped out of our yard or off of our trees that very morning.
I clipped Dusty Miller (because there's plenty of it and because it coordinated beautifully with the pumpkins), clipped little branches from trees, a few vines here and there… basically just a nice palette of greens. I started layering the flat leaves around the glassed and candle holders, covering most of the wood.
The next step was to take little glass votive cups, put a little water in them and create little mini vases full of Dusty Miller…
I ran these, evenly spaced, all along the edges of the "shelf".
Once the little votive vases of the Dusty Miller were in place, then I added more greenery to fill in any gaps and topped the whole thing with a few strips of burlap.
For the table itself, I actually took an old drapery panel that was the perfect shade of green, sliced it length-wise to make one long runner, then added more of the pumpkins. A few more votive candles, and you guessed it: more yard clippings. (Note: Asparagus Fern is the only kind of asparagus that would EVER be on my table. Yuck!)
So aside from the pumpkins (which I slowly bought over the months of September and October) I had everything I needed to pull this together. Think beyond Thanksgiving… As long as you stick with a simple color palette, you'll be fine.
What do you have that you could mix and match to create something beautiful?